Billing device.



' No. 000,439. PTENTBD JULY 10, 1907.

W. R. BOHMBRT.

BILLING DEVICE. APPLIUATION FILED In a. 1901.

mh/'M Y A TTHNEYS PATENT OFFICE.

" WILLIAM ROBERT BOHMERT, OF LARCHMONT, NEW YORK.

BILLING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 1907.

'Application filed May 2,1907. Serial No. 371,417

To all 'whomjt may concern:

Beit known that I, WrLLIAM ROBERT BOHMERT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a residentof Larchmont, in the county of Westchester and-State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Billing Device, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in billing devices, andmore particularly to'means for holding a bill and the sales sheet orloose leaf of a sales book while the bill is being made out and, at thesame time, copied upon the sales sheet or leaf of the sales book bymeans of suitable transfer paper.

In my improved device each billvmay be made to closely follow thepreceding one irrespective of the length of the latter, whereby all ofthe space upon the sales sheet may be utilized. The sales sheet isfirmly held upon a suitable support while the bill is mounted at itsright-hand end upon a sliding carrier, the lefthand end` of the billbeing steadied by the fingers of the left hand, thus preventing the billfrom becoming displaced while it is being written. The carbon sheet issecured to the carrier and moves therewith, thus permitting of vthe useof a carbon sheet of the minimum size, and obviating the necessity fortouching the carbon sheet With the fingers during the filling of anentire sales sheet. The carrier is so constructed that it is held inplace by mere frictional engagement with its slideway, thus eliminatingall catches or fasteners, but, at the same time, providing againstaccidental displacement. The board or main support is provided with ascale adjacent the bill carrier, whereby the point at which one billends may be noted on the scale, and the next bill may be begun at thispoint withoutl raising the carbon sheet and inspecting the sales sheet.

' The invention consists in certain features of construction andcombination of parts, all of which will.

be fully set forth hereinafter and particularly pointed out in theclaims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which simi lar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures, and in which Figure 1 is a planview o f my improved device illustrating the manner of securing' thebill and the sales sheet thereto; Fig. -2 is a transverse section on theline 2-2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 isa plan view of the bill and carbonsheet carrier.

In the preferred form of my improved device, I employ a suitable boardor support l0 rectangular in form and constructed of any suitablematerial which will not readily crack, split, or warp. The board isconstructed as thin and as light as possible to give the requiredstrength, and the back of the board may be provided with rubber legs orprojections 11, whereby the device may be supported upon a table topwithout liability of scratching or marring the latter. The `support .isprovided with means for securely holding a sales sheet or the loosesheet of a sales book thereon, and provided with a sliding carrier towhich the carbon sheet and the bill are attached.

To more fully set forth the working of my improved device, I haveillustrated the same as having a loose leaf 12 of a sales book attachedthereto. The support is provided .with a plurality of pins or studs 13adjacent the left-hand side thereof and adapted to enter the openings inthe sheet by which the said sheet is secured Within the sales book. Thesheet is provided with a detachable strip 14 at the opposite edgethereof, which strip is also provided with openings l5 by which thesheet may be secured upon the studs or pins 13 when the opposite side ofthe sheet is being employed. The sheet is first filled in the p'ositionillustrated in the drawings, and then is reversed and the openings 15placed over the pins 13 and the opposite side of the sheet filled. kThestrip 14 may then be torn off along the line of perforations 16 and thesheet secured in the sales book.

Adjacent the right-hand edge of the support, I provide a grooveadaptedto receive a sliding carrier 17. The carrier preferably comprises asingle strip of metal slightly curved longitudinally and having aplurality of studs or pins 18 to which the bills and carbon paper may besecured. For guiding the carrier the side of the support is providedwith a groove extending from the top to the bottom and having a sheetmetal guide way 19 secured therein. The guideway is provided withinwardly directed flanges 20 which engage withY the upper surface of thecarrier 17 and hold the latter against lateral or vertical movement. Thecarrier may ftas snugly as desired beneath the fianges 20, but'preferably the carrier is vslightly thinner than the space beneath theflanges and the slight curvature" of the carrier causes a irm frictionalengagement, although permitting of a free longitudinal movement of thecarrier upon the application of a slight pressure thereto. The bills 21are provided with a detachable stub portion 22 having openings thereinfor the reception of the studs or pins 18 of the carrier, and are soruled as to agree with the ruling of the sales sheet or leaf of thesales book. A sheet of carbon paper 23 is provided of substantially thesame size as the bills, and is also provided with perforations for thereception of the studs 18, whereby the bill and carbon sheet may bemoved longitudinally of the sales sheet by moving the carrier along itsslideway. Adjacent the slideway the support is provided'witli-a suitablescale 24 which may consist of numbers or other suitable charactersprinted directly upon the support or printed upon a plate rigidlysecured thereto. The stub portion of the .bill is provided with a lineor arrow-25 in alinement with the first line of the heading of the billand terminating adjacent the scale, as is clearly indicated in Fig. l,to represent the startingline of the bill, and the lines of the body ofthe bill extend across the stub terminating. adjacent the scale, so asto indicate thereon the last line of the particular bill Abeing Written.

In the use of my improved device, the loose leaf of the sales book, thecarbon paper and the bill are assembled in the manner indicated in thedrawings. The carrier is moved until the starting line 25 points to thezero of the scale and the left-hand edge oi the bill is firmly held inplace by the fingers of the left hand, and the heading and the body ofthe bill arel then written. The bill may consist of a single litem orany number of items, and when .the bill is completed the operator notesuponv the detachable stub oi the bill the number on the scale adjacentthe last item 4on the bill or moves a suitable slide 26 along the scaleto this line. The cafrrier is then moved until the starting arrow 25points to the number on the-scale which was indicated by the last itemof the bill. The bill is then torn off from the stub and a new blankbill secured in place. It will thus be noted that each bill may be madeto follow directly after the last-preceding bill irrespective of thelength of the latter, and that the i sales sheet or leaf of the salesbook may be completely filled. When one side oi' the latter has beenfilled the sheet is turned over, and by means oi' theopenings inthe'detachable section 1.4, it is again secured in place and theopposite side of thesheet filled. lf desired, p

a plurality of sheets may be placed uponpthe support at the same time,there being two of these sheets illustrated in the drawings. 4To preventthe carbon sheet 23 from being soiled or rumpled while one bill is beingremoved and another one secured in place, I may, if desired, cover saidcarbon sheet with a thin sheet 27 oi tissue paper oi the same size asthe carbon paper. The carbon sheet may be made of the same size as thebill, or if a longer bill is to be written, two carbon sheets may beused by securing one upon the two upper pins or studs i8 and one to thelower pins or studs 18. No part of the carbon'paper is exposed to soilthe fingers or the sales sheet, and by securing the carbon paper to thebill carrier, no portion of the sales sheet is exposed to the influenceof the carbon save that directly beneath the bill, and by means of thescalel and ar rows it is unnecessary to lift the carbon to inspect thesales sheet when a new bill is secured to the carrier.

The last line upon Whichthe last item is written is in.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim as new and desire to'secureby Letters Patent:

l. A device of the class described, comprising a suitable support, meansalong one edge thereof adapted to receive and retain a sales sheet, anda carrier slidably mounted adjacent the opposite edge of said supportand having means adapted to receive and detachably retain a carbon sheetand a bill.

2. A device of the class described, comprising a suitable support, studsor pin's adjacent one edge thereof adapted to rec'eive and retain asales sheet, and a carrier siidably mounted adjacent the opposite edgeof said support and having studs or pins adapted to receive anddetachably retain a carbon sheet and a bill.

A device of the class described, comprising a suitable support having aslideway with inwardly directed flanges adjacent one edge thereof, meansadjacent the'opposite edge adapted to receiveand detachably. retain asales sheet, a carrier mounted within said slideway and frictlonallyengaging beneath 'said flanges, and studs or pins secured to saidcarrierand extending outwardly between said fianges and adapted to receive anddetachably retain a carbon sheet and a bill.

4. A device of the class described, comprising a suitable support, meansadjacent one edge thereof adapted to receive and detachably retain asales sheet, a carrier sildably mounted adjacent the opposite edge ofsaid support and having means adapted to receive andretain a. carbonsheet and a bill, and a scale mounted on said support sub stantiallyparallel with -said carrier.

5. A device of the class described, comprising a suitable support, meansadjacent one edge' thereof adapted to reccive and detachably retain asales sheet, a slideway adjacent the'oppesite Aedge vof said support,-and a carrier mounted in said siideway and adapted to receive andretain a carbon sheet and a bill, said support having a scale thereonparallel with said slideway and adjacent said bill.

6. A device of the class described, comprising a suitable support, meansadjacent one edge thereof adapted to receive and retain a sales sheet, aslideway adjacent the opposite side ofsaid support and having inwardlydirected flanges, a carrier within said slideway and frlctlionallyengaging with the under side of said flangeskmeans on said carrieradapted to receive and detachabiy retain a. carbon sheet and a bill,Aand a bill having a detachable section marked to indicate the rst lineof the subject-matter entered upon the body of the bill, and saidsupport thaving a scale adjacent the detachable section ofthe bill andadapted to cooperate therewith to 'determine the position of the billupon the sales sheet. l

7. A device of the class described, comprising u suitable support, meansadjacent one edge thereof adapted to receive and retain a sales sheet, aslideway: adjacent the opposite side of said support and having inwardlydirected flanges, a carrier within said slideway and frictionaliyengaging with the under side of said flanges, means on Saidcarrien.

adapted to receive and detachably retain a carbon sheet and a bill, anda bill having a4 detachable section marked to indicate the first andthelast line of thesubject-matter entering upon the body of the bill, andsaid support having a scale adjacent the detachable section of the billand .adapted to cooperate therewith to determine the position of thebill upon the sales sheet.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in .thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM ROBERT BOHMERL. Witnesses:

CLAIR AW. 'FAIRBANK, llviumnn B. MARSHALL.

